Sweeney Todd was a lot of fun. Right before it began, I was reminding myself not to complain, and then it started, and I just went "Eeee! :D." Lots of fun.


The voices were about what I expected, except for Johnny Depp, who was actually better than I thought he was going to be. (But I thought he was going to be pretty awful.) The main problem was that the voices were all weak. Not bad, simply not strong enough to really do justice to Sondheim's songs. In a stage production it would have been a disaster, but in a movie it was all right. Not as good as it good have been, but all right. (Actually, I was the most impressed with Toby's voice. But someone with more musical knowledge may disagree with me on all of this.)

The singing may have been less than the best, but I really liked the acting. Depp's over the top crazy Sweeney may not be to everyone's taste, but he pulled it off wonderfully, I think.

Helena Bonham Carter continued a trend that I also noticed in what little I heard of the Broadway revival, and that's the playing Mrs. Lovett as a dark, overtly creepy character. I understand this, but my favorite will always be Angela Lansbury, who played her her very warmly and matronly. I love that because it actually makes her a much scarier character, all friendly and warm until she makes you into a pie. But don't think that I didn't like Carter! I really liked her performance. I think she did very well.

Another thing that I was expecting but sad to see was the cutting down and removing of songs. The Ballad of Sweeney Todd was removed for obvious reasons, but I still missed it. I was more disappointed to see how the changed A Little Priest and By the Sea. A Little Priest is one of my favorite songs, and By the Sea had at least one of the most amusing lines cut. There was also a lot of the humor missing from A Little Priest, though, luckily, not from By the Sea.

But this makes it sound like I didn't like it, and I did. I liked it a lot!

And, because I love you, I'm uploading the the original Broadway cast recording. This is the complete version, and last I checked, it was out of print. Download it!

Disc One
Disc Two

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention that the songs on disc two are mislabeled. I don't know why. They're still all there.

EDIT: If you're coming in late, just leave a note, and I'll reupload the links.

Warning: This FST contains spoilers for the entire Utena series.

Ohtori Akio and Himemiya Anthy: siblings, lovers, partners, enemies. Their relationship is one of the most twisted and complex relationships in the series.

Note: Utena is a highly subjective series. This FST has been influenced by my personal opinions. You are welcome to disagree. I always enjoy discussing Utena.

( A Casket Built for Two )

It's singles month over at fst. What that essentially means is that people are meant to post very short FSTs. When I saw the challenge, I thought "I could do that." By coincidence, I was listening to a song that had always reminded me of Kenshin and Tomoe. This little FST was born.

There's tragically no cover art, because I don't own photoshop, and if I did, I wouldn't know how to use it.

I hope I didn't fuck anything up.

( Spoilers for the Tsukiohen (Trust and Betrayal) OVA/Memory arc of the manga. Also warning for me being a sap. )

That really wasn’t much of a secret, because I never told anybody that it was a secret, and, really, what’s the point of having a secret if no one knows that you have one?

Anyway, I felt a little embarrassed about making this, but it was fun, and that’s what matters.

This is an FST (fan soundtrack). It is an FST for ravenbell’s fanfic 30 Tortures. Don’t let the name turn you off.

This was made slowly, in stages. First I decided on my music. Then I forgot about it. Then I collected all the music into files. Then I forgot about it. Finally, I wrote it all up. Then I forgot about it. So, this was actually completed some time ago.

Everything is on megaupload. If you can't use that, tell me. Some of the songs are in .wma format. If you can't play that, tell me. I'll try and fix it.

I have to confess that much of the music here comes from fst. What’s worse, even music from my collection has shown up there. So, if you’re a member of that community, there may not be much new here. Sorry.

Oh, and one of the main reasons I was nervous about making this is that I would prove my horrid taste in music. There are a few songs here that I don’t really like, but fit. Whatever songs you think are dumb, those are them.

There are spoilers for the entire story. Duh.

You'll find zips down at the bottom. They have all the songs, my commentary, and lyrics.

EDITED TO ADD: If you're coming in late and find that any of the links are dead, just comment, and I'll be happy to reupload them.

Ok, seriously, enough introduction.

( Long Way Down, or ‘Gah' )

I just had a little Yule celebration. Nothing much, but it made me feel good. It has also given me new religious motto: "the Goddess doesn't care." Can't find any salt but pretzel salt? The Goddess doesn't care. Don't have any mulled wine, so you have to use pear juice? The Goddess doesn't care. The apples you've cut up don't look very pretty? You guessed it: the Goddess doesn't care. Nothing I worship would be so petty, and Wicca isn't big on dogma anyway.

In the spirit of giving, how about some holiday music for you all.

I don't have Yule songs per se, but in the spirit of rebirth and renewal:

Better Things by Dar Williams. Just a song about hope and optimism. (I know, it's not like me, is it?)

Help is on the Way from my Carols for a Cure album. Not a Christmas song, just another about faith and hope.

I'm going to wait to post the Christmas songs, but here are some others.

Good King Wenceslas is not actually a Christmas song, technically. It's Christian, but only mentions the Feast of Saint Stephen, which is December 26. Anyway, this is sung by Loreena McKennitt, and it's lovely.

We are Lights is also from Carols for a Cure. It's a very pretty Hanukkah song.

The Rebel Jesus... I love this song. I adore it. It's lovely to listen to, but the lyrics are what capture me. Download it. Listen to it. Maybe you won't fall in love like I did, but I doubt you'll be sorry.

And, finally, The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams. A song about love and acceptance. But it's also fun.

I feel like a dork.

To thank you all for supporting me and reading my angst and drama, I thought I'd give you things. Whoo! Bribery!

The mix I made. Whether or not you give a damn about my emotional state, it's free music.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XL9I519H

Now, a few days ago I directed people to a link where they could download the Yami no Matsuei manga. It was a mixed bag. Some volumes were translated, some weren't; some were rar files, some were zip files. I've managed to get my hands on volumes 1-8 all translated zip files. I offer them now, with my commetary.

Volume one: The Nagasaki arc plus one extra story. This corresponds to episodes 1-3 of the anime. I prefer the anime's Nagasaki arc, actually, but this is worth a read, especially if you're getting it for free.

Volume two: The Devil's Trill arc, plus an extra story that wasn't in the series. (It lacks the required amount of gay. At least that's my theory.) This volume corresponds to episodes 4-6. I prefer the manga version of this story. More gets explained, and Surgatanus/Sagatanusu/Sagdalius/Oh-he-of-a-dozen-translations is even scarier than he is in the anime.

Volume three: The King of Swords arc. This corresponds to episodes 7-9. I don't exactly prefer the anime or the manga here. They both have their good and bad points. The manga explains things that get ignored in the anime. Tsubaki-hime is more likeable when you find out why people call her "princess." In the anime she sounds stuck up, saying "Call me Tsubaki-hime" out of the blue. The manga also has more detail about the children that were taken aboard the ship, and Muraki and Hisoka get to talk during their poker game. On the other hand, the characterizations, especially Hisoka's, are a lot more coherent and constant in the anime. I choose to take bits and pieces from each canon. I'm a Rurouni Kenshin fan. We're used to this.

I should note that the translations on the scanlations and at theria.net are different from the translations on the Viz release and the Central Park Media released anime. Normally, I'd go against Viz and CPM, as I don't like them, but their translation makes a lot more sense. "I am one who truly loves you" seems more likely than "giving you one who truly loves you" considering the context.

Volume four: This volume wasn't animated, which is a shame, because I like most of it a lot. Ok, the hot springs story was kind of stupid, but the News Years arc was amusing, and I really liked the Saint Michel's arc.

Volume five: This wasn't animated either and I'm not all that broken up about it. It sort of reads like bad fanfiction, which is is in a sense what the bookverse is. You'll understand better once you've read it.

Volume six: Also not animated. Sheer ridiculousness, but amusing. Also contains lesbians, so, you know, cool.

Volume seven: The first half of the Kyoto arc. This volume, along with volume eight correspond with episodes 10-13. I really have no preference for anime or manga when it comes to manga or anime. I will say that some of the characters are quite different, such as Dr. Satomi. He's more immoral in the manga. Oriya's also less scrupled.

Volume eight: The second half of the Kyoto arc. Hisoka's speech in the fire is different in the anime and manga. I think prefer the manga version, but it's not a huge deal. Also look for an appearance by Enma-Dai-Oh!

Sheesh, this wouldn't have taken so long if my internet didn't constantly insist on dying.